Fern Poetry and the Africa Sanaelimu art Ensemble in collaboration with Consolation East Africa have come together under the Kenya Blue Heart Grassroots Initiative (KBHGI) and developed a play titled ‘A Blue Heart; Joy’s story, to create awareness on human trafficking. The play is about Joy, a young girl who goes to live with her aunt after her parent’s unfortunate demise, giving birth to a gripping saga. A Blue Heart; Joy’s story brings together narration, poetry, music and dance. Bernard Muhia from Fern Poetry has written the poems in the play while Mike Kasongo from Africa Sanaelimu Art Ensemble has choreographed the dances and the music. The music is from traditional African drums beaten to a perfect rhythm to reflect the various moods of the play.
This play has already been featured on the United Nations (UN) website http://www.ungift.org/knowledgehub/stories/february2012/blue-heart-campaign-inspiring-artists-in-kenya.html.
The title is inspired by the Blue Heart Campaign against Human Trafficking launched by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) which is mandated to create awareness on human trafficking. UNODC is also working to make the ‘blue heart’ an international symbol for human trafficking. The United Nations defines human trafficking as “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation".
This play has been created following research done by KARDS (Koinonia Advisory Research and Development Services) in 2009 on the proliferation of human trafficking in East Africa. KARDS is also collaborating in the production process. We are searching for other partners to join us in this noble effort. Written by Luiz Nzomo, a locally based playwright, A Blue Heart; Joy’s story is going to be performed at the Kenya National Theater on 24th March and as well as in high schools and social/community halls.
Charges are Kshs. 200 for high school students with a school ID and Kshs. 500 for adults. For tickets kindly call Noella on 0751198280 or Akil on 0700393931. Advance tickets are also available at the Kenya National Theatre’s booking office at only Kshs. 400. 5% of proceeds from this play will go to the Kenya Red Cross and another 5% will go towards creating more awareness in informal schools. Our Facebook Event Page is https://www.facebook.com/events/330143027022068/ and our Twitter handle is http://www.twitter.com/ABlueHeart_Joy and the Twitter tagline is #BlueHeartKe. For more info, kindly go to http://www.bernardmuhia.com and http://sanalimu.org
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